A Different Perspective
by Laurus Nobilis
Summary: Kaho slowly moves from admiring the legend that is Clow Reed to falling in love with the person that is Eriol.


**A Different Perspective**

The Moon Bell had been in the shrine for many, many years. Kaho's grandfather had received it from a mysterious man, a foreigner who had been living in Tomoeda at the time. The stranger had been very vague about its purpose, and even vaguer about himself. All he explained was that, someday in the future, someone would discover its use.

His name was Clow Reed. For a long time, that was all anyone knew about him.

He never returned to Tsukimine Shrine. But he was very powerful, and that meant he was also _famous_, if one talked to the right people. It was not unusual for the priest and his family to meet spirits and all kind of magical beings, who were often much better informed than humans on such matters.

By the time Kaho was born, they had learned enough to have an idea of what kind of person he had been. She grew up hearing stories about the legendary wizard whose magic was unlike any other in his time, who had created living beings supported by his power, and who had left something at her very own shrine… something that held a secret still unsolved.

Sometimes it felt as if the bell called to her. But when Kaho finally gathered the courage to sneak into the room where it was kept and try to make it ring, nothing happened.

o O o

She was in her teens when her own power began to show. Kaho was prepared for that. It was something common in her family, and she knew what to expect. It felt just as natural as all the other changes she was going through at that age.

Her father taught her how to use the reflection of the moon on the pond for scrying. Soon enough, she discovered she had a talent for that. And, sometimes, she didn't even need to use the pond. Bits and pieces of the future came to her on their own, sometimes guiding her, sometimes making her wonder.

It was one of these intuitive bits of knowledge that, a few years later, brought her back to the Moon Bell. This time, however, she was not a curious little girl who was afraid of getting caught playing with something too important to be touched by children. She was confident in herself, because she already knew what would happen.

The bell had been brought here for _her_. And when she took it again, knowing this, she made it fill the whole shrine with its pure sound.

o O o

It took her a while to realize that Touya was a descendant of Clow. His magic felt very different from then one stored in the Moon Bell; it came from his mother. He had no idea that he was related to one of the greatest wizards in history, or if he did, he didn't say anything about it. Kaho didn't say anything either. She didn't want to risk telling him more than he should know at the moment.

Most of all, she didn't want him to think that she was with him because of a man long dead.

Her love for Touya was just as honest as his love for her, even after she realized it would not last long. And so she tried to make the best of it. Perhaps it was selfish of her, not to tell him about it until it was time to go. But she knew how it felt to dread something that had not yet come to pass. If she could spare him that, she would.

Kaho wasn't sure of how well he had understood that, but at least he wasn't _too_ angry at her.

"The next time we meet, we will become very close friends," she told him. And she believed it with all of her heart.

o O o

Being in England was strange. So much of what she found there was unknown and unexpected… and yet, there were also many things that came with a deep sense of déjà vu. Kaho had been dreaming for a long time before coming here, after all.

Of course, vague premonitions and images were of no use when it came to her usual ability to get lost. It was something she couldn't help in her own hometown, much less in a city where she had only spent a few weeks so far. Still, she wasn't worried. One way or another, she always found her way.

But it would take longer today. Before she returned home, there was someone she would meet. Today was The Day; Kaho had known it since she opened her eyes that morning, and she could barely wait.

She found him sitting on a bench in the park, with an open book he was not reading on his lap. At first, she was shocked to see that he looked like a child. But it was obvious to her that he was much, much older than he appeared to be. Something in his clothes, in his mannerisms… especially in his eyes.

"Clow Reed," she whispered, unable to stop herself.

"Eriol," he replied. His tone was polite and gentle, but it still felt like a correction. "Eriol Hiiragizawa."

o O o

Kaho spent most of her free time with Eriol, simply talking. It didn't take long for her to learn about her future role in the Final Judgement; she had known most of it already, thanks to her own foresight, and her new friend had simply confirmed what she suspected and filled in some details.

It was the _past_ that they talked about. For as long as she could remember, Kaho had admired Clow Reed. He was a figure of legend, a wizard as powerful as he was kind; someone she had always looked up to. And now she had the chance to know so much more about him than the stories told. Talking to Eriol… it was almost like talking to Clow himself.

She had the impression, sometimes, that he distanced himself from it all. When he talked about his past life, he didn't truly sound as if he was speaking about _himself_. But he knew everything, of course. Not just the answers to Kaho's questions, but everything that had happened in Clow's very, very long life.

He had been there, after all.

o O o

It didn't take long until Eriol invited her to visit his house. He seemed painfully aware that she might feel awkward about it, so he went to great lengths to explain that he had a very large library that she could find useful, since she was so interested in Clow's life and works. Many of the books there had been written by the wizard himself.

"Besides," he said, with an unreadable smile, "there are people I want you to meet."

Kaho hadn't known what to expect when she heard that (a family? did he even have one?) but it most certainly wasn't what she found. To Eriol's credit, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon were not something that he could have explained to her before she saw them - and if he enjoyed her surprise, well, she supposed there wasn't anything wrong about that. She could only hope that her obvious fascination didn't bother them. But it turned out that Ruby very much appreciated the attention, and Spinel... well, Spinel was much shyer, but he didn't exactly complain about being found interesting either.

Still, it did make her wonder about certain things. Clow had had his own Guardians, similar to these and yet very different. They were sealed in the Clow Book at the time, yes, but... they were still _alive_. And Eriol was going to find them in time, wasn't he? So why had he made his own?

She didn't ask him about it yet, however. She didn't ask him until much later. But, as she considered this, she began to think that perhaps things weren't quite as she had thought they were.

o O o

They were friends. It felt strange to think about it; a few months earlier, Kaho couldn't have imagined that she could call a person he had admired from afar for such a long time her _friend_.

And yet… perhaps she was looking at it from the wrong perspective. It wasn't that she was getting used to Clow Reed, after all. She was getting used to _Eriol_. It had been hard to see, at first, but there was a difference.

It was interesting, she thought, how Eriol always tried to emphasize that difference instead of waving it away. She would have imagined that anyone with such a heritage would display it proudly; and, while Eriol wasn't arrogant, he certainly did have a more than healthy ego. But she had never seen him bragging about being the reincarnation of The Great Clow Reed.

He wasn't ashamed or bitter, either. So it wasn't that he wanted to distance himself from Clow because he was not the kind of person everyone remembered, or because had ever done something he was not proud of. No, it must have been something different.

On the other hand, Kaho also found that there _were_ things Eriol was not proud of. He did not try to hide them; quite the contrary. He had been the one to bring up Clow's failings, when she talked too highly about him. She had always seen him as a legend, and only now she was beginning to think of him as a person.

"He was a good man," Eriol told her once, his voice calm as usual. "He tried to, at least. But he made mistakes like everyone else. And when one has such a great amount of power… well, his mistakes were in a much larger scale, too."

Then, for the first time, Kaho thought she understood why Eriol didn't want all that power for himself.

o O o

Between how busy she was and how much she was enjoying herself, months seemed to fly by for Kaho. She had advanced greatly in her studies. She had become close friends with Eriol and his family (as strange as that had sounded, at first, now the word _family _felt like the only one that was right to use).

And now that it was time to return to Tomoeda… she found that she would miss all of that much more than she had expected. She _had_ to go and fulfill her part in Clow's plan, of course. The well-being of many people depended on that – and, truth be told, she was also curious to see how Sakura would fare. On a more personal aspect, she did very much want to see her family again, and even the shrine and the town itself. She had missed them all.

At the same time, it was hard to part from her friends here, even if she knew it would only be for a short while. Especially Eriol…

It felt natural to think of him this way. And that, in itself, was a little strange.

o O o

Everything went just as planned in Tomoeda. Kaho had to admit that, even knowing what the results would be, there were moments when she was surprised – anxious, even. But, in the end, everything turned out to be all right. This was _Sakura_, after all, and she had definitely lived up to Kaho's already high expectations.

The same could be said for Touya. Kaho was more than glad to see that both her predictions about him had been correct. She valued his friendship, so she was relieved to see that he felt the same way, even if he did seem annoyed by her being right – but, then again, when it came to Touya that was only a sign that he was a bit embarrassed.

She most definitely approved of Yukito, too. With his situation, things would be complicated, of course… but he was a good boy. And Touya, very obviously, had found his "someone to love".

… as had she. That much, too, had been right.

She couldn't wait to return to England.

o O o

It wasn't long until it was _Eriol_ who had to leave, in turn. By that time, Kaho still hadn't found the way (or perhaps the courage?) to tell him about her feelings.

Eriol was unreadable. He cared about her, that much she could tell… but was it really in the same way she cared about him? She had no way of knowing that. He was a very quiet, reserved person; even with his Guardians, and Kaho knew for certain that he loved them more than anything in the world. It wasn't something that she could figure out on her own, and her foresight hadn't helped in this case, either. She would simply have to take the risk, and talk to him without knowing what his reaction would be.

Wasn't that what most people did, after all?

She would do it when everything was over, she promised herself. Without delay. There were far more urgent things in Eriol's mind right now, and she wouldn't add yet another concern to all that. But she wouldn't wait for long, either, or else she might become indecisive again.

Once Eriol had done what he had to do – once he was free to be _Eriol_, and not just the person who had to make sure Clow's plans worked – she would talk.

o O o

Kaho kept her promise. It was much easier than she had expected, too; the moment presented itself naturally, and she found herself speaking, opening up in a way that she wouldn't have imagined possible not too long ago. Then again, so much had changed since that first meeting, hadn't it?

She didn't see him as Clow Reed's reincarnation, like she once had. That was a part of him, true, and a very important one… but it didn't define him in her eyes anymore. She was simply Eriol, the person she loved.

The person who loved her back.

"But once again," he said, "I do not know how things will end."

"I don't know either," Kaho admitted. "But… if you feel the same way I do, I'm sure it will be a happy ending."


End file.
